NEW DELHI: Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has some path breaking ideas to bring the loss-making retrograde organisation back on track. He has promised new ideas, cutting of red tape, decentralisation and empowering of zonal railways.

Senior railway officials with whom he shared the ideas were impressed but also wary of implementation.

Among things that Prabhu talked about are decentralisation of authority from the Railway Board to the zones, incentivising GMs for timely completion of projects and leveraging vast tracts of railway land to raise credit for the cash-strapped organisation.

Prabhu was not in favour of privatisation of railway land or leasing it to private builders. He talked of getting foreign investment into the sector, especially from Japan, which is already funding the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DGC) project of the railways. More info